CREO : LIGHT GRAPHICS REP - Waste of time?

[ptc-4278446]

Hi all,

I have recently found that models take some time to load, so I thought I would look into the latest and greatest light graphics rep that PTC are crowing about.

on my first attempt, the models loaded as a series of yellow wireframe boxes which was basically useless

After speaking to technical support, they told me to save the model as a pvs file (which is used with creo view express), but if i wanted the light graphics rep to be up to date I needed to change an option in the config "generate_viewable_on_save" to yes.

Now, what I have is a model which has a higher level of detail and loads quicker - great, if I need to modify the model, I change the rep to master and the full model loads.

BUT ... now everytime I save, I have to wait ages for creo to create/update lots of edz files.

So here is the dilemma, I now have a model which loads 40 times quicker, but takes 40 times longer to save, how can you claim this to be productive?

Seems to me its a bit of a sales gimmick to induce the 'wow' factor to design managers etc.

what are your thoughts guys....

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[James62]

I thought Creo saves only files that has been changed during the session or at least there is a config.pro option to set that.

Your other option is to get SSD disk to be able to load and save your files much faster.

[TomD.inPDX]

I had the same issue with an admin implementation in Unigraphics NX for JT files. We finally found the user switch to disable this function for large and complex files. there too, it was an imperfect implementation.

All CAD systems have run into performance limitations from fully defined models in massive assembly sessions. The fact that PTC attempted to address this with lightweight models is certainly an improvement.

As long as you have a config.pro switch, use it, and use it wisely. You know when the switch should be flipped.

Within an organization, you will need some policies regarding this option, but in general, you can make it work for you instead of against you.

[Constantin]

I think this is also an option that is mostly inteded for enterprise implementations including WINDCHILL.
Here the visualisation work is done by a CADworker in the background at Checkin or which ever defined event and the load is taken of your local ProE session.

[BrianMartin]

Even if you don't have a CAD worker for your implementation of Windchill, there's a setting within the Windchill preferences to determine when a viewable will be created. For example, in Paul's original posting, he mentioned the config.pro option generate_viewable_on_save but noticed this increased his save times considerably. If you're using Windchill PDMLink or Pro/INTRALINK, you can set an option to generate the viewable upon checkin. Rather than generating it upon every save, you can generate it only when you check your work back into the Commonspace. Plus, this generation can occur in the background freeing you to go back to productive work in Creo.

That may be the best option for those working with Windchill. For those working without Windchill, Paul's option is probably the best- but there's a trade off given the longer save times.

I haven't had a chance to really test out the LightWeight Graphics Rep. If it performs as well as Creo View for loading large models then I'm sure it's actually quite impressive. I can see this being a big benefit to the users where I work. We have subassemblies we need to view in the context of their upper/top level assemblies. These TOP level assemblies can be massive. Using a lightweight rep might be beneficial. We don't need to EDIT the top assembly, just view our components, subassemblies, harnesses, etc in the context of them. While many times we leverage other large assembly management techniques (SImp Reps, Copy Geom, Shrinkwraps, etc), it's always good to add another tool to the arsenal.

I'll have to reserve final judgement until I can test the new options for myself but I have high hopes the new lightweight rep will significantly reduce load times for instances where we don't necessarily need to edit the top level assembly.

Thanks!

-Brian

[ptc-2722546]

Thanks.

I also tried to use the Graphics Reps to reduce the size in WF5. I ended up with below issues.

1. Some geometries are not compatible/converted to Graphics Rep.

2. Problems with the layer display. Noticed Graphic Reps does not utilize the user created layers.

I think it will be difficult to implement Grpahics Reps as a standard practice within the organization level.

Any thoughts?

[RichardWisten]

Like Brian Martin stated earlier, to really get the benefits of LGR:s you need to have the viewables automatically produced by a CAD worker. The worker needs an add-on recipe for 3D Thumbnails. You also need to consider rules for republishing i.e. out of date checking (of what and limited to...?) Unfortunately, very few people within PTC seem to know anything about this. Luckily we got hold of one of them and he will be visting us for a full day workshop next week.

[ptc-4974621]

Dear Richard,

We are trying to get Light Graphics work by using the Cad-worker via Windchill 10.0. We have not succeeded yet and did not get the proper support from PTC. We still have bounding boxes in our assemblies. Could you please keep us informed or give us the e-mail of your contact person at PTC.

Thanks in advance !

[RichardWisten]

Dear "ptc-4974621"?

I asked my contact at PTC but he did not want me to reveal his contact details.
He went from consulting to presales hence his services cannot be bought anymore.

I will try to convey the steps we were given to make this work:

First you need to create (generate) a recipe file for 3D Thumbnails.

Procedure found in this document, steps 2-7:

https://www.ptc.com/appserver/cs/view/solution.jsp?n=CS82286&posno=2&q=3D thumbnail quality&nav=

There is one important setting not covered in the document and that is the "minus one" (-1) in the recipe for the 3D Thumbnail. The string in the recipe looks like this: adapter/createSubModel=-1 and gets created by manually typing -1 in the box under Parameters > Miscellaneous > Sub-thumbnail level.

Second, you need to edit the current CAD worker recipe and refer (point) to the recipe created in the first step. Procedure found in the same document as above under the bullet "For By Worker generated Thumbnails.

Use the proe2pv_config.exe, point out your current setup directory and hit the Recipe Editor button.

Use the tabs to navigate to Advanced > System. Far down you will find the field for Thumbnail Recipe where you enter the full path to the recipe created in the first step.

Of course the above two steps will not help unless the option to output thumbnail has been checked on the Basic tab in the first place.....

On top of all this there are questions about queue separations and out-of-date checkings since we have our CAD workers configured differently depending on whether they are publishing for the release process or just for concept objects that have just been checked in. In both cases thumbnails are generated but the queues and workers have different priorities. We have left all that with warm hands to our experts at the IT-department.

Best regards,

Richard